This will be the first update to the Mac Pro line in almost two years, coming in two standard configurations, as well as a server config as well. No news yet on if the chassis will be redesigned or not.

WWDC kicks off in five days, and it looks like we at least know that we can expect a slew of new Apple Mac hardware and accessories. We're talking new MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, and even a very long-awaited update to the Mac Pro line. In addition, a new Airport Express seems to be in the cards, along with a new USB SuperDrive and USB Ethernet adapter that we are guessing will support USB 3.0. You can see the leaked part list above--here's hoping that those MacBook Pros are sporting Retina displays!

WWDC kicks off a week from today, with a keynote address to be delivered by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, and crew. Many are expecting that we'll hear all about iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. While that may be the case, 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple is also set to unleash a slew of Mac updates at its annual developer event as well. In fact, Mac hardware may end up stealing the show, as Apple is purportedly set to refresh four out of the five Macs in its lineup, which would make it the biggest simultaneous Mac hardware launch in company history.

We know a ton of you got some new Apple gear over the past few days, and we want to make sure you protect those items appropriately. Whether it's a new iPad 2, iPhone 4, MacBook Air, or even an old-school iPhone 3GS, we thought it would be prudent of us to recommend you get AppleCare for the devices you’ve acquired. Here’s the trick though—don’t buy AppleCare from Apple. If you buy it from Amazon, you can get up to 30% off of the price that Apple will charge you for the same 3-year warranty. Even better, when you go to resell your Apple hardware, if you have an AppleCare Protection Plan attached to it, you get a higher resale value. We’ve compiled a list of the different AppleCare Protection Plans available for the entire line of Apple hardware, check it out:

Apple is rumored to be mulling whether to continue investing in its Mac Pro line of workstations beyond 2011 with executives at the company reportedly agreeing that "Mac Pro's days ... [are] inevitably numbered."

Sales of its workstations have dropped off to the point that continuing to make them is "no longer a particularly profitable operation" for Apple, while improvements to the company's consumer line of Mac products has decreased the performance gap with the professional-targeted Mac Pro line, according to a report by Apple Insider.

In fact, Apple management has been "in limbo" over whether to invest further in its Mac Pro products since this past May, the Apple watcher reported Monday, citing "sources familiar with the matter."

Apple does have a Mac Pro revision in the works, according to Apple Insider, but it's unclear whether those new workstations will "see the light of day." The company would likely build any new Mac Pros around Intel's powerful new Sandy Bridge-class desktop chips coming out soon, but it's another fertile partnership with Intel—the; development of the high-speed, dual-protocol Thunderbolt I/O technology that's now part of several of Apple's Mac products—that; could "ultimately allow other, more popular members of the Mac product family to assume the vast majority of the roles that once required the Mac Pro's flexibility and architecture."

It wouldn't be a weekend without a brand-new Apple rumor to feast upon. And today's no exception: According to Cnet's Brian Tong, unidentified sources have told him that Apple's going to launch an upgraded Mac Pro and Mac mini this fall.

Details on the configurations are scant, save for the two obvious upgrades that Apple would want to put in a refreshed system line: Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs and Thunderbolt connections. The timeline for the systems is a little nebulous as well—the systems could appear in late July or early August, though Tong claims that an August launch is the more likely scenario. Expect the refreshed systems to feature Mac's latest operating system iteration, OS X Lion.

Tong's source is allegedly the same individual that correctly predicted an early May refresh of Apple's iMac line—lo and behold, new iMacs sporting Intel's quad-core Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt support hit stores on May 3.

Apple today announced that they were ending production of their Xserve line of servers, noting that the Mac mini servers are their most popular server platform by far. However, realizing that some may need more power than the mini offers, they've also introduced a server version of the Mac Pro. For those wanting a Mac Pro server, you can get one starting at $2,999 with a Quad-Core CPU, two 1TB hard drives, 8GB of memory and an ATI video card. Many upgrades are available including a faster processor, more memory, RAID card and more.

The folks over at OWC just got one of the new 2.66GHz 12-core Mac Pro units in their office, and they slapped together and quick and dirty unboxing gallery showing off the goods. Of course, with Apple sticking by their longstanding top-of-the-line desktop design, nothing on the outside really looks all the much different. Still, though, it’s a sign that these beasts are finally shipping, and that’s gotta count for something.